The Stride of Pride
by Darling Pretty
Summary: Callie gives Addison some tips about sleeping over at the Grey Unholy House of Horniness. Addison puts them to good use. Addex oneshot.


**Just a little oneshot I whipped up after getting some college advice from my cousin. So, yes, the stride of pride is a real thing. Thank you, Caity. It's a little all over the place, but give me a break; it was one in the morning.**

**I own absolutely nothing.**

* * *

When she opens her eyes, she's quite tempted to hide her head under her pillow and not reappear until the sun has set. Her head hurts and her mouth kind of tastes like something decided to lie down and die. But then she realizes that the almost pleasant weight around her waist is an arm, and that arm belongs to Alex Karev. And then she realizes that they're both naked and his hand has traveled upward from her stomach. There are definitely more socially acceptable places that hand could be. Her face burns crimson.

She starts to get out of bed, but he shifts and pulls her tighter. She winces. This would all be so much easier if she could just sneak out. "Alex," she hisses. "Wake up."

After a couple more repetitions of his name, along with a couple of well-placed elbows to the gut, and he wakes up. "Jesus, Addison, it's early," he complains, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, well," she huffs.

"Are you always up this early?" he asks. "Because that's going to be a problem."

She arches an eyebrow. "You think this is happening again?"

He smirks a little. "You're lying in bed naked with me discussing the possibility of It happening again. So I'm thinking it's happening again."

She shoves a piece of hair behind her ear. "Oh, so you, um, you want it to happen again?" she stammers.

By way of an answer, he kisses her. She ends up quite glad that she had forced him to wake up so far before they have to go to work.

0ooo0

She tries to make it out of the house without being seen. She has never failed so miserably at anything before in her life. Not only does she run right into Meredith when she gets up to use the bathroom, but she also manages to nearly trip over Izzie when she's returning to Alex's room, and then Derek has to come do the jealous ex-husband thing the second he realizes that she may possibly be happy (and that she definitely had sex under the same roof he did last night). Humiliation complete, she slinks out of the house trying to ignore the whispers from Izzie and Meredith and the glares from Derek. Meredith and Izzie actually huddle together and drink coffee, whispering while she leaves. Alex walks her out the door and apologizes profusely for his roommates' ridiculously sophomoric behavior.

She looks at him. "Next time," she says seriously, "we're going to my hotel."

0ooo0

Addison plunks her tray down next to Callie. "I slept with Alex Karev last night," she announces.

Callie looks up. "I'm married to George O'Malley," she replies.

"What?" Addison asks, squinting at her friend's nonsequitor.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I thought we were playing the Old News game."

Addison rolls her eyes. "George tell you?" she asks. Callie nods. "Did George tell you _where _I slept with Alex Karev last night?"

"No, but now I want to know!"

Addison covers her eyes with her hands. "Meredith Grey's house," she winces.

"Addison Montgomery!" Callie somehow manages to scream and laugh at the same time. "You brazen hussy!"

Addison groans.

"You do realize that you and your ex-husband were probably getting lucky at the exact same time in the exact same house, right?"

"Yes," she groans again. "Callie, it was absolutely mortifying!"

"Yeah, well, that's what you get for spending the night in the Unholy House of Horniness."

Addison bursts out laughing at Callie's surprisingly apt name for the Grey household.

"So…" Callie says, dragging the word out. Addison can tell by the ten seconds it takes for her to finish saying the word that she's digging for dirt. She decides to cut her off at the pass.

"Yes, I will be seeing him again. Yes, I will be sleeping with him again. Yes, the sex was freaking mind-blowing."

Callie studies her friend. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Why would you say that?" Addison asks, trying to sound nonchalant and failing almost as badly at that as she did at getting out of the house quietly this morning.

"Even though you were being Little Miss Flippant, you had this little smile on your face."

Addison sighs and decides to come clean. "I do," she sighs. "But I can't go back to that house, Callie. I felt like I was some sideshow freak. And I know that we can go back to the hotel, but how long is _that _going to work? I mean, really?"

Callie pulls her chair in a little closer. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret that I learned in college. A trick of sorts."

Addison raises an eyebrow skeptically, but says, "I'm listening."

"The stride of pride."

"Huh?"

"It's called the stride of pride. It's something I learned in college. I was sleeping with this guy who lived in a frat house and every time I left, I'd get the most disgusting catcalls you can imagine, so I'd just try to get out without being noticed. And then my roommate told me about the stride of pride."

Eyebrow raised yet again.

"It's the opposite of the walk of shame. Instead of trying to get out without being noticed, act like you belong, like you're proud to be there. I tried it the next morning and those frat boys stopped bugging me and we actually became pretty good friends. Meredith Grey's house is no different than a co-ed fraternity. Just go there and act like you're completely comfortable. They'll talk a little at first, but if you ignore them, they'll get used to you."

"Co-ed fraternity is an oxymoron. But did that work for you when you were staying with Meredith?" Addison asks.

"Well… no, not exactly. But they're _never _going to like me."

"I'm Derek's ex-wife!" Addison exclaims. "I'm pretty sure they're not going to just up and like me!"

"But you and Derek get along… sort of. And it's not like Meredith and Izzie actively hate your guts. If it worked on a house full of horny nineteen year old boys, it will work on Meredith Grey and Izzie Stevens. I don't guarantee Derek, but it should definitely help. Just promise me you'll try."

Addison rolls her eyes. "Fine."

0ooo0

She manages to avoid going back to that Unholy House of Horniness (as she's now taken to calling it in her mind) for a good two months. Alex doesn't care where they go home to, as long as they're going home together. But one night they're like three minutes walking distance from Meredith's house and it just doesn't make sense to go to her hotel. So, with a frustrated sigh, she agrees to spend the night in his room.

The next morning, she contemplates just doing the walk of shame and getting out before anybody can notice that she was ever there. Then she hears Izzie yelling at Meredith about using all of the hot water and realizes that the walk of shame is only going to lead to a repeat performance of the last time.

She lies in bed with Alex for a couple more seconds, gathering up her courage. He's still dead to the world and is going to be absolutely no help to her. She takes a deep breath, slides out of bed and dresses herself in his college T-shirt. After running her hands through her hair, she's convinced that she's as presentable and ready as she's ever going to be. Quietly so she doesn't wake her boyfriend, she slips out the door.

"All I'm saying," Izzie explains as Addison walks into the kitchen, "is that hour long double showers using _all _of the hot water are not necessary. I mean, that _is _why you have a bedroom, right?"

"Morning," Addison says, crossing to the refrigerator.

"Morning," Izzie replies. "Meredith, seriously, I…" She trails off as both she and Meredith stare at Addison digging through their food.

"Uh…" is the only sound that comes out of Meredith's mouth.

"Is there some coffee around here?" Addison asks.

"Mugs are in the second cabinet to the left. Coffee on the counter," Izzie answers.

"Thanks."

Izzie and Meredith share a look that very much says "What the hell?"

"Uh, so you and Alex spent the night here?' Izzie inquires after a long silence.

Addison nods, sitting down at the table. "We were within walking distance. It just made sense. You don't have a problem with it, do you?" She fixes the two women with a pointed stare.

"No, no, of course not," Izzie stammers.

"Erm…" Meredith still hasn't quite processed everything.

"Is she okay?" Addison asks Izzie.

"Just give her a second to catch up." Izzie kicks Meredith under the table.

"Yeah, no, it's fine. Sorry," Meredith says.

Addison laughs a little. "Thanks."

"Do you want something to eat?" Meredith asks.

"No, I'm fine with just coffee," Addison replies. "Thank you."

"Addison?!" Derek exclaims, rubbing his eyes.

She looks at her ex calmly. "Yes, Derek?"

"W-what are you doing here?"

"At the moment? Drinking coffee."

"You slept here?"

"No," she replies sarcastically. "I thought I'd just drop in for a little pre-work coffee."

"No need to be sarcastic. What are you doing here?"

Addison gives him another annoyed look. "I'm dating your roommate, Derek."

"That's still going on? I thought it was a onetime thing."

"No," Addison replies with a too patient tone. She sounds like she's talking to a ten-year-old. "We've just been going to back to my hotel. Not that it's your business."

"But he's an-"

"_Really_, Derek? You're going to pull the intern card?" She glances at Meredith.

"Hey, leave me out of this!" Meredith exclaims.

"Actually, I was going to say he's just another Mark."

Addison rewards that statement with a sarcastic smile. "To which I would reply that you're an idiot."

"Seriously, Addison, do you know how many girls he's brought here alone?'

"Seriously, Derek, has he brought any home since he started sleeping with me?"

"Addison."

"Derek."

"Derek, leave her alone," Izzie commands.

"But-"

"Derek, stop!" Meredith exclaims. "She's good for Alex. He's happy with her, and from the looks of things, she's happy with him. So just stop."

To Addison's surprise, Derek shuts up and pours himself a cup of coffee.

She grins and coughs under breath, "Whipped."

He glares, but what's a glare between best friends? They're not best friends anymore, but maybe they could be again.

At that point, Alex comes into the kitchen. "Morning," Addison grins. He smiles when he sees what she's wearing.

"My shirt looks good on you," he comments and kisses her.

Derek pretends to gag and smiles smugly when Addison glares at him.

Then she returns to kissing her boyfriend. "Thanks. I kind of like it."

"You can wear it whenever."

"I might take you up on that."

"Hi, okay, we're still here," Izzie interjects before they can get too sickening.

Addison blushes a little. Alex, on the other hand, kisses her and whispers, "I'll meet you upstairs? Shower?"

She pretends to think about it, but everybody at that table knows she's faking. "Be right there."

He leaves and she gets up to follow him. "Thank you," she says to everybody still in the room. "For the coffee and stuff."

"Addison?" Izzie calls when she's out of the room.

"Yes?" Addison replies, poking her head back into the kitchen.

"The hour-long double shower rule goes for you and Alex too."

0ooo0

Addison plunks her tray down across from Callie. "Alex and I spent the night at the Unholy House of Horniness last night."

Callie's eyebrow shoots way up. "And how did that go?"

Addison pauses for dramatic effect. "Thank you."

Callie grins. "I _knew _it!"

"Yeah, well…"

"See, there's a reason you keep me around!"

"Thank you," Addison repeats.

0ooo0

"I'm home!" Addison calls, dropping her keys into her purse and shrugging out of her coat.

"Good to know!" Derek calls back sarcastically.

"Shut up, Derek!" she laughs.

"We're in the dining room!" Izzie yells.

Addison walks to the room. "Wow, Izzie," she comments. "You've outdone yourself."

"Ridiculous, right?" Meredith asks.

"New cookie recipe that I wanted to try out. So I figured we could do a dinner thing."

"I will never say no to anything you bake, Iz, you know that."

"I know. So," she says, changing the subject, "how is Baby Montgomery-Karev?" She bends down to baby talk Addison's stomach.

"Izzie?" Addison coughs.

Izzie looks up. "Too awkward?"

"Too awkward," Addison agrees.

"Did you just get home?" Alex asks, walking into the room and stealing a bread roll from the table.

"Alex, those are for dinner!" Izzie cries. He takes a big bite, just to antagonize her.

"I got home a couple of minutes ago," Addison answers.

"You didn't hear the fanfare she sent ahead?" Derek laughs.

"Shut up, Derek."

"You just got home?"

"That's what I said."

"Addison, you need to start slowing down!" Alex exclaims. Addison rewards him with an eye roll. "No, I'm serious. You need to take care of yourself."

"I'm fine, Alex," she sighs. They've had this conversation before.

"I swear to God, you're going to get some rest if I have to tie you to the bed!"

"Now _that _I might actually look forward to," Addison replies cheekily.

"Ears bleeding," Meredith mumbles.

"Dinner's ready!" Izzie chirps.

"It looks delicious, Izzie," Addison compliments, sitting down at the table.

"You take that whole eating for two thing seriously, don't you?" Derek laughs.

"Keep going, Derek, really. You're headed deep into castration country."

Everybody laughs at the comical look on his face.

Dinner is fun and filled with snarky comments. Izzie's cookies are absolutely phenomenal.

Later that night, Addison and Alex lie in bed together. "So I was thinking…" Alex says.

"Don't hurt yourself," Addison comments dryly.

"Look, I know you only moved out of the hotel a couple of months ago, but-"

"Are you kicking me out?" she interrupts suspiciously.

"No, I was thinking that… that I don't want my kid to be raised under the same roof as Shepherd."

Addison laugh comes out as an unladylike snort. Then she turns over to look at him. "So you're saying that… you want to look for a house? For just us?"

He nods.

Addison's smile has the makings of the biggest grin ever. "I like that idea."

"And then… maybe… we could, uh, we could get married."

Addison's eyes are just about the size of plates. "Was that a proposal?" she chokes out.

"Yeah," he says, scratching nervously at his brow.

'You're sure, Alex? I mean, you're not doing all of this to make me happy, right? Because I could keep living right here, like this, and be the happiest woman in the world. I mean that."

"But I… I wouldn't. I want to marry you."

Now Addison's smile _is _the biggest grin ever. "Then I say yes. Of course!"

Even with all the excitement, she yawns. He kisses her. "Get some rest, Addie."

Her eyes are practically closed and she's practically asleep, but she manages to stay awake long enough to look at him and wink. "What? No rope?"

* * *

**In case you were wondering, yes, I did get a whole speech about how to sleep with frat boys. I love my family. Know what I love just as much, if not more? Reviews. :)**

**-Juli-**


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